The helpful advice and actionable solutions at Work.com
span thousands of topics. But everything springs from
a simple format - our How-To Guide - that's
aimed at delivering powerful, action-based answers
in a compact space.
Despite its simple structure, however, writing a great
Guide is trickier than you'd think. Each one
should deliver fast, focused, takeaway help to a reader/user.
We seek clarity and usefulness in a Web world that
increasingly lacks those qualities. Our goal is to
gather and distill the best solutions and information
and present the results to Work.com users.
We especially want to spotlight the "insanely
useful" solutions that the Web has spawned -
services that could never have existed in the offline
world. The expansion and ready availability of these
services has spawned a new golden age of entrepreneurship.
Starting and running a business is still one of the
hardest things you'll ever do, but Work.com
is all about helping people find the gems that make
many business tasks so much easier to accomplish now
than ever before.
Each Guide has these components:
The best contacts and resources to help you get it
done
Make
your headlines, subtitles and intros really count
Space is limited; reader patience and attention
spans are short, so get to the point and deliver
information that matters.
I
recommend: The headline should
leave no doubt what
the Guide is about. The subtitle should amplify
the topic, not simply restate the headline. Guides
with 1-2 opening paragraphs and a "1-2-3"
list of top concerns work well. But there's
flexibility. You can include more
numbered points.
Focus,
focus, focus
Guides go awry when they drift. Don't be
bent on providing a history of the PC when all
we really want is a great place to buy laptops.
I
recommend: Stick to the specific,
stated topic of your Guide. Work.com has thousands
of Guides, so each one must be unique. Detail
counts.
Show,
don't tell
Showing how to do something is better than just
telling. And the Web offers the best tool ever
created to do just that - the ability to
create links that show readers exactly what you
want to recommend.
I
recommend: Our Guide
on business plans, for example, includes links
to specific sample plans along with software and
other solutions.
Write
tight
Don't use four words ("all over the
country") when one ("nationwide")
is good; or a longer word ("purchase")
when a shorter one ("buy") will do.
I
recommend: See tips
for short writing from the Poynter
Institute.
Make
your links deep
We've all been frustrated trying to find
something on a Web site. Work.com Guides should
provide links to specific Web pages deemed most
helpful.
I
recommend: For example, our Guide
to Building Your Business with Google doesn't
simply send readers to the Google home page. It
takes them deep into the site to just the right
pages, such as a complete
list of Google products, how
AdWords works, its costs,
spending
requirements, answers to key questions in
the AdWords
Help Center, specific Google
applications for your domain, and many others.
Be
decisive, authoritative and select solutions with
action in mind
You know your topic. So be decisive in pointing
others to solutions - don't try to
list everything, just the ones you think are best.
Work.com Guides earn high ratings when they link
to real solutions rather than simply sending users
off to read articles somewhere else.
I
recommend: The subject of office
supplies, for example, could lead a hundred
directions. But our Guide writer has selected
specific solutions for easy ordering and re-ordering,
saving money, personalized products and more.
Let
your links do the talking
The ability to place links in your Guide frees
you from having to explain it all yourself. Your
links can do the talking for you.
I
recommend: Do NOT try to type
or place URLs themselves in your Guide, as they
can be a mile long. Instead, select a word or
phrase that illustrates your point, and imbed
the link there by using our Create a Link tool.
You can also write your Guide in Microsoft Word
and create links with Word's "Insert
Hyperlink" feature, then copy and paste them
into your Guide. Our Guide
to Cleaning and Maintenance Services shows
words and phrases selected to become links.
Write
with search engines in mind
Many people find Work.com Guides by entering search
terms in places like Google or Yahoo, so use words
- especially in your title -- that match
the words business owners would most likely use
to describe your topic.
I
recommend: Our Guide
to SEO can help.
Remember
the audience
They are a highly diverse group of business owners,
startup entrepreneurs and other small business
decision makers. Keep your tone and language conversational
and direct - like one small business person
talking to another - not tech language or
trade jargon.
I
recommend: If you need to use
tech terms, jargon or acronyms, explain briefly
what they mean. Our Guide
to Tech Terms and Jargon can help.
Think
independently; avoid clichés and hackneyed advice
Work.com Guides should be original and independently-created,
not cut-and-paste or copied from elsewhere. Don’t
tell users to “go search” or “ask others” – they
are here for answers, and the Guide should provide
them.
I
recommend: Check the Work.com
list of Top
Rated Guides at the lower right of the home
page for examples of very well-done Guides.
